Rad Reading: "The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism"

by Abaki Beck

Text: The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism

Author: Audre Lorde

Quote to Highlight:"It is not the anger of other women that will destroy us but our refusals to stand still, to listen to its rhythms, to learn within it, to move beyond the manner of presentation to the substance, to tap that anger as an important source of empowerment."

Quick Summary:As the title suggests, she focuses on anger: specifically, why the anger of women of color feel towards racism and sexism is legitimate, useful, productive, and powerful. She also discusses her frustration with white women in academia (her field), who de-legitimize and ignore her particular experiences as a black woman.

POC Online Classroom strives to make social justice readings and resources accessible - with particular focus on the knowledge of people of color and other marginalized communities. Rad Reading is a new series that will give readers a quick idea of each text before they delve into it. We will post every Tuesday and Thursday. This is one of the first in the series, but we hope to have one for every resource on the website in the future. Stay tuned!